


This Isn't How We Work

by hamildone (FourFiveOneDirection)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, this is shit and so am I
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-01 13:13:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11487129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FourFiveOneDirection/pseuds/hamildone
Summary: Sure, Tony had decided to practically take the kid in, teach him everything he knows. And sure, maybe Tony liked mentoring the kid; liked knowing that Peter looked up to him and held him to the esteem that he held Steve to when he was his age. But Tony still isn't entirely sure when Peter's admiration turned into something more, and is even more unsure of why he loves it so much.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

"It has been forty-six hours since your last resting period, Mr. Stark. May I recommend hydrating and then approximately nine hours of sleep before you begin working again?" Friday asked Tony over the lab intercom.

Tony sighed, thinking about how he could disable the AI's ability to coddle him with a push of a button. "No you may not recommend that, Friday." He answered back. "I need to finish developing the interface for this suit before Tuesday and-hey, what day is it again?"

"Sunday, Mr. Stark." Friday replied.

"Great. Right on schedule. See Friday, if I go to sleep now I wont finish until tomorrow night, and then I'll have bags under my eyes for the presentation Tuesday. I can't have them thinking that I did this all in one night, can I?"

"I suppose not, Sir."

"Exactly. And that's exactly why I'm not-"

"Sir," Friday interrupted, "Peter Parker just arrived."

"Really?" Tony asked, immediately perking up. Something about the kid, probably his enviable ability to pull three all-nighters in a row, always made Tony a little happier. "Let him in then."

"He's on the roof. I'm detecting several injuries. A broken arm, multiple fractures, possibly a broken rib."

With that, Tony jumped to his feet and pushed his work table out of the way. Stepping quickly into his suit, he jetted up to the roof to find Peter passed out five feet from the ledge. If he didn't have the ability to heal as quickly as he did, Tony swears he would have died right there. Gently picking Peter up, he put him against his cold armor. He whispered to the unconscious boy, "What the hell did you get yourself into this time?"

It was another four hours before Peter woke up. Tony, like the responsible adult he was, spent his time drinking vodka that was worth more than he'd care to admit. He wasn't an alcoholic per say, but more of a guilt drinker, and the guilt he felt was consuming him. Really, the only reason Peter was hurt was because Tony enabled him. He gave him the suit. He gave him the knowledge, he even gave him the encouragement. As far as Tony was concerned, he just as much gave Peter every scratch on him as whichever asshole decided to lay a physical hand on him did. That's why when Peter's left hand started to twitch and his eyes started to flicker Tony was equal parts relieved and nervous.

"Peter....wake up" He whispered to the young boy laying in the stiff hospital bed. "If you don't wake up I'm taking away your lab privileges for like, a month." He only half joked. And of course, with that incentive, Peter's eyes shot open and he started yelling. The yelling stopped as soon as Peter saw where he was and who he was with. 

"Hey." Tony said with a light tone. "You had me scared there for half a second. I thought the only fifteen year old that could walk on ceilings was dead." 

Peter made a mangled noise and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry Mr. Stark", he said. 

Tony was incredulous. Peter Parker almost died on his roof and he was apologizing for it. Amazing. "Uh, don't worry about it kid. It's not like you've made a habit of it. Good work coming here and not your Aunt May's. The last thing she needed was to be cleaning spidey guts from her carpet. I doubt it would ever come out."

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, kid?" Tony responded, still a bit buzzed from the Vodka. 

"Can you stop talking?" he asked with a grimace. "I'm totally not trying to be rude, and I'm really grateful that you saved me and everything, and I promise I'll somehow repay you for that later, but I have the worst headache that I've ever had in my life right now, and I'd really, really just like to sleep right now."

"Oh," Tony said, a little deflated. "Yeah, sure. I'll just go down to the lab then. If you need anything just ask Friday. I'll come back." he said. Immediately cold. Somehow getting shut down by Peter hurt more than it should have. 

"No, don't go." Peter responded with urgency in his voice. "Please. Sit with me." He said as he grabbed Tony's hand to keep him in his place. Stark looked down at where their hands connected and Peter immediately let go, face turning beet red. "I just mean....I don't want to fall asleep alone. Can you stay for a few minutes?"

"Of course, uh, yeah." Tony said, feeling a sense of victory for a reason that he couldn't fully comprehend himself. He sat down in a chair adjacent to the bed and pulled out his phone. He'd wake up nine hours later to find that he was still in the same chair, phone on his lap, the bed across from him empty. 

He shook his head as he got up to stretch his legs, maybe his problem was he didn't want to fall asleep alone either.


	2. Something Else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this is my life now

Tony made his way up to the kitchen to find a pot of coffee brewing and the noise of water running in the distance. It reminded him of a time before any of this started. When Pepper was still around and becoming Iron Man wasn't something even Tony could have imagined himself. And while Tony was undoubtedly more happy when Pepper had been in his life, he was an asshole of an arms dealer who didn't know right from wrong. Now, years later, Tony can't imagine his life ever going back to the way it was.

"Friday", he commanded, "Status Update. How is Peter healing?" 

"Remarkably well, Sir. I detect minimal damage." She answered back to Tony's joy. The power of genetically enhanced people never ceased to amaze him, though he'd never say it out loud.

Tony walked over to the coffee pot and reached for a cup, silently cursing himself for the headache he was sporting, definitely a result of that Vodka. Regardless, he poured what was left of the coffee into another cup for Peter and made his way to the screen room, where he turned on the TV. Not ten minutes into the second season of Supergirl, Peter came walking in with one of Tony's black t-shirts on and a pair of flannel pants that Tony hadn't seen in probably ten years. Something about the kid wearing his clothes made Tony feel proud, like he was really rubbing off on him.

Peter took a seat next to him on the couch looked at the screen. "Supergirl? Really? That's not very realistic."

Tony chuckled, "You might be too young to remember, but a few years ago the space-time continuum ripped itself to shreds over my house and aliens started pouring out of it, so I'm not sure that calling this show unrealistic is entirely fair."

"How young do you think I am?" Peter asked, meeting his eyes. "Of course I remember. I'm just saying that it's difficult to imagine all of us working together again" he paused. "Like in the show, of course." 

"Well, we still have a Thor. So I'd say this show is as realistic as it gets." Tony rebuffed. 

"I know I haven't met him yet," Peter started, "but I have a feeling that if you told Thor he was our Kara Danvers he'd put his hammer on you and not let you up until you apologized for the insult to Kara's character. She's way cooler than him."

"You know what, you're probably right." Tony gave in. "But that's besides the point. I'm really only watching it for Maggie and Alex anyways. I'm rooting for them."

"Nice, Mr. Stark. Anyways, I didn't come in here to talk about fake super heroes. I came to talk to a real one. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. Especially last night. I was seriously hurt and I don't think that I'd be doing as well as I am now without you so....yeah. Thanks."

"No problem, kid. Anything for a fan." Tony said with a fake arrogance and a wink. What he wasn't expecting was the blush he got in return, or the sense of pride it gave him. After staring at Peter for what was definitely an inappropriate amount of time, he started speaking again. 

"Hey, did you call your Aunt this morning? She'll probably be freaking out by now if she's realized you aren't tucked safely in your bed."

"Uh, Y-Yeah" Peter stuttered, unmissed by Tony, who again felt a surge of pride and something else, glee? As he listened to how nervous he suddenly made Peter as he continued to talk. "Before I left last night I told her that I'd be staying over at Ned's house. We have this project coming up that I actually should be working on but, you know, here I am."

"Here you are." Tony said, nodding in affirmation.

"Well, I should get going." Peter said as he moved to get up. But before he could move too far, Tony grabbed his wrist, pulling him down into a hug. He could see the younger man's startled expression but as he pulled him in, he could feel him calm down. At least, that's what he thought. 

The awkward position with Tony sitting on the couch and Peter bending down to meet him had brought Tony's knee up to Peter's crotch, where he could feel something unmistakably familiar and, oh. Oh. That's what he saw in Peter's eyes the previous night when he asked him to stay with him when he fell asleep. And that was what he saw when he made Peter blush only moments before. Want. Peter wanted. And that couldn't happen. So Tony released his grip on Peter and looked him in the eye. 

"Do you want me to drive you home, or would you like me to call you a cab?" He asked Peter, who was clearly just mortified by the whole situation. 

"I-I can um, call a cab." He answered back as he abruptly walked out of the room, probably to go cringe in private, Tony thought. Though he himself, as terrible as he knew it was, felt little more than pride and curiosity over what had just happened in front of him. He pressed play on the remote and Supergirl began to play again, as nothing more than background noise to Tony's thoughts. 


	3. Here We Go Again

It had been two weeks after Peter's incident in the screen room and Tony was beginning to get worried. He'd texted Peter a few times each day and had only gotten a single response confirming that he'd be there on Wednesday so Tony could try something new with his suit. It was a relief when he had finally heard back from the kid, but now it was 8 pm on Wednesday night and Tony was almost nervous to see him.

It's not like Tony hadn't dealt with awkward situations before, hell he'd done some pretty cringe worthy shit himself when he was Peter's age, but this felt different. Tony cared about Peter, about their friendship, and he didn't want the guy to feel awkward around him. It was bad enough that Peter had insisted he'd call Tony Mr. Stark out of respect, which used to make Tony cringe a little, but now Peter thought an untimely boner would ruin their whole relationship. 

Around 9 Tony made his way down to the lab to work on a new project. Hopefully something that would make it easier for Rhodes to get around. When he stepped through the doors he was surprised to find Peter sitting in his chair, quietly tinkering with some wires and metal. Peter had headphones in and was facing away from the door, so he hadn't heard Tony enter. 

Tony took the opportunity to admire the younger boy. He was always so impressive, in Tony's opinion. Sure, when Tony was his age he was already in college, but Peter wasn't as privileged as he was. And that's what made him so impressive. Despite having to grow up without parents, and having to deal with his uncle being murdered, Peter never gave up. He tried so hard to be a genius, and it really wasn't fair. He deserved more. 

He'd been walking towards Peter without realizing and put a hand on his shoulder, making the kid jump out of his chair and turn around. 

"Oh! Hey, Mr. Stark! You scared me." He said, a nervousness in his voice. He looked like a scared animal, like he might run away any minute if Tony moved too fast. 

"Hey, kid. What're you working on?" Stark asked, genuinely interested. 

"Wha-oh, that? It's nothing." Peter said, moving his body in front of Tony so that he couldn't see whatever he was working on. 

"Well, it looks like something. Let me at it. Maybe I can help." Tony said earnestly. "It's never too late for a good science project."

"No." Peter said. When Tony gave him a weird look he started speaking again. "I just mean...it's a surprise!" 

"A surprise? For who? Do you have a special girl you've been hiding from me? Are you holding out on me Parker? Who is it?"

"No!" Peter said, clearly frustrated. "There's no girl. It's a gift for you."

"For me?" Tony asked, clearly taken aback. "Why?"

"Your birthday is coming up soon and you've really been here for me this past year, so I just wanted to give you something. And I knew it would be pointless to buy you anything because you're Tony Stark and you're like, a bajillionaire, but still, so. Yeah. No, you can't see." 

"Peter?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you"

"No problem, Mr. Stark. If anything, I should be the one thanking you. I'm using your materials to make it." He said with a laugh. 

With that, Tony pulled him in to hug him again. Given the last time he hugged Peter something slightly uncomfortable happened to Peter, he left a bit of a gap between them, but he had just enough an advantage so that he could see over Peter's shoulder to the work bench, where the most intricate watch he had ever seen was laying on the table. 

Pulling back from Peter, Tony looked at him with a sparkle in his eye. He was such a good student. He was so bright. The natural affinity he had for tech and his abilities as Spider Man made him Tony's most valuable friend, and one of the best people he had ever met. Which is why Tony was really, exceptionally, confused when he felt Peter surge forward and put his mouth on his own.

Tony stood there for what could have been either two minutes or two seconds, he wasn't really sure, in complete shock. Either way, in Tony's defense, as soon as he could move out of Peter's grasp, he did. Because like, what the fuck? The kid was fifteen. Tony is more than twice his age, and he sure as hell was going to tell Peter that. 

"Peter, what the hell? Why did you do that?" He asked him, voice slightly louder than he would normally talk.

"I-"

"No, never mind. Don't say anything. Sit." He said, and Peter sat. 

"What are you thinking? What were you thinking Peter? Do you have any idea how much trouble we could get into if someone had seen you do that?" What was he thinking was the only thing that Tony could verbally articulate.

"Okay. Speak." 

"I. Well, you were looking at me and I just-Yeah." Peter stuttered through his words, clearly not sure why he kissed Tony either. 

"Peter", Tony sighed. He wasn't shocked any more, he just felt bad for the kid. "You know that you can't do that, right? You know that was wrong."

"It didn't feel wrong." Peter said, looking at the floor, face as red as it could possibly be. He had tears in his eyes. 

"Peter, nothing about that was right, okay? You're so young. There's no way for you to know if that felt right. Have you ever even kissed anyone before? Oh my god. Peter. Have you ever kissed anyone before?" Tony felt dizzy. He needed to sit down now. He grabbed a near by chair and sat across from Peter. 

"No." Peter said suddenly. 

"What?"

"No, I've never kissed anybody else." 

That broke Tony's heart. How was he supposed to tell this kid that this couldn't happen without permanently damaging their friendship? He really didn't know. So when he started talking, he did it really slow. "Peter. You know that this," he gestured between them, "could never happen, right?"

"Then why did you kiss me back?" Peter asked, and earnest expression on his face. Genuinely curious. 

"What? No, I didn't." Tony answered back. Because he hadn't. He would remember that, right? Totally. He would definitely remember if he kissed Peter Parker back. 

"Yeah, Mr. Stark, you did." Peter answered back, completely confident in what he was saying. 

Tony groaned. Being called Mr. Stark in this situation just felt weird. "Please, if we're having this conversation, don't call me that."

"What?"

"If we're talking about us kissing, please don't call me Mr. Stark. It's uncomfortable and makes this sound even worse than this is."

"So you admit that you kissed me back!" Peter exclaimed, jumping out of his chair, getting a little closer to Tony, who groaned again.

"Listen, if I kissed you back, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to and I shouldn't have done that, and I can promise it won't happen again. I think you should go home. I think that maybe we just need a break from each other. And then you'll have time to sort out your feelings. Then we'll meet up and you'll see how ridiculous you're being right now."

"No, Mr. Star-I mean, Tony. No. What do you think I've been doing for the last two weeks? We both know what happened the last time I was here. I've figured out exactly what I'm feeling. I don't need a break from you. I love you." Peter proclaimed.

"Woah, woah, no you don't. You have no idea what you're saying Peter." Tony's not sure when Peter started crying, but he really wanted him to stop, and whether he liked it or not, he was drawn to the kid. So he got up from his own seat and made his way over to the kid who had moved closer to Tony than he'd like to be comfortable with. Tony pulled him into another hug which, in retrospect, was a bad idea. Every time he hugged him something definitely borderline illegal happened.

This time though, Peter just held on. Tony could feel Peter's heart beat racing through their clothes and knew that Peter could probably feel how fast his own was racing. He needed to get out of there. 

"Peter." Tony said, still holding onto him as his fight or flight mode kicked in and tried to get him as far away as possible. 

"Yeah?" A muffled voice came from his shirt. 

"I'm going to call you a cab and-"

"But-"

"No, listen. I'm going to call you a cab. You're going to go home and go to bed."

"Ton-"

"Listen, Peter. This is important. You're going to go home and go to bed. You're going to wake up tomorrow morning and go to school. All day. Once you get out of school, text me on your way home. I'll pick you up around four. Clearly we need to talk, but it's pushing midnight and I don't want your aunt to worry, okay?"

"Okay." Peter said, his head still tucked into Tony's shirt. "Does this mean th-" 

"We're done talking for tonight Peter." Tony said as he let him go and immediately. "Friday?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Call Peter a cab, will you?" 

"Right away, sir." The AI answered back. 

And then Tony left the room, leaving Peter alone with Tony's birthday present. 

 


	4. Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love some of the comments you guys have given, thank you! Feel free to leave more if you have any ideas or anything you'd like to input!

Peter had never had a longer day of school. By the time he got to his third class of the day, he was ready to actually kill himself. On an average day, physics would be an interesting and extremely important class for him, but this wasn't an average day, and there was a substitute, so it's not like he was missing anything. Half way through class, when they started showing a video of Captain America lecturing a camera on the importance of applied science, something Peter is sure Cap had no understanding of, he got up and left. 

He knew Tony would probably be mad at him because he was skipping school, and he didn't even want to think of what Aunt May was going to say when she got a call from the school saying that her nephew walked out, but he didn't care. He could handle Aunt May and Tony already hated him, so did it really matter? No, of course not. 

Despite knowing that Tony would be at least immensely disappointed, at most enraged, he headed straight to Stark Tower, which was a little more than a mile away. Peter didn't have his suit so he knew that he'd have to walk, which was fine because it gave him time to think. 

"Okay, Peter", He said out loud, "All you have to do is apologize. Tell Mr. Stark that it was a mistake. He was right. He never kissed you back. I didn't feel good when he kissed you. That's all you have to say, and everything will be fine. You can both forget about it and you can be age inappropriate friends again." 

He sighed to himself, shaking his head. "Except you can't say that, can you? Nope! Because that would be a lie. All of it." So what was he supposed to do, just go there and try to convince Mr. Stark to sleep with him, to date him? Like that would ever happen. Mr. Stark would never let that happen. 

One night, a while back, after Tony had brought Peter back from Germany, Peter had been up late into the night, unable to sleep. He had thought about the age difference between him and Tony, how they were separated by thirty four years of experience. How it just didn't bother him. How it would be the thing that holds Tony back from ever even thinking about Peter in a way that wasn't like a protege. 

As Peter rounded the corner he could see the base of Tony's tower, he felt a new kind of anxiety. He still had no idea what he was going to say to Mr. Stark. In the time it had taken to get to the tower from his school, he had decided he was definitely going to tell him the truth, but past that? He had no idea. 

.....

Tony was alerted that Peter was on his way up to the common area as soon as Peter had stepped into the elevator. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck" was Tony's initial reaction, because really what else do you say when a a kid who has a huge crush on you that you don't really mind but realllllly should mind his coming to see you so you can talk to him about said crush? Nothing. 

He can admit to himself that he wasn't totally prepared. Peter was supposed to be in school for another four hours, and Tony wasn't supposed to see him until another hour after that. So that means that the hour that Tony was planning on using to think of some way to let the kid down easily was gone, so he was going into this unscripted. And that was something he did not like to do. 

The elevator doors opened to reveal Peter, who was visibly uncomfortable. 

"Hey, kid." Tony said, trying to sound as steady and normal as possible. 

"Hey, Mr. Stark." He replied, looking at his shoes. 

Tony couldn't help but grimace at the boy's lack of confidence. He wished that he could fix that. 

"Do you want to sit?" Tony asked, gesturing to the rarely used living room, trying to find a setting that Peter would be comfortable in. Peter nodded and followed Tony in, keeping space between them. 

"Mr. Stark I-"

"No, if we're talking about this, I told you. Tony." He couldn't be called Mr. Stark in this situation. It made him feel like he had power over Peter; like he was forcing him into liking him, even though that would be ridiculous. 

"Tony, then." Peter said, clearing his throat. "I know you probably want an apology. I know you want me to stop feeling this way and for me to be like a normal kid and get a girlfriend or, whatever. But I can't. I won't apologize for how I feel, and I know you're mad at me and you probably never want to see my face again, and that's so not fine with me, but if the alternative is me apologizing, then I guess that's how it'll be from now on."

"I don't want you to apologize for how you feel, Peter. That's never what I've wanted you to do. I do want to understand what I did to make you feel this way, so I can stop." And that was true. All Tony really wanted was to understand Peter. To understand why he felt this way about Tony, of all the people in the world. 

"Tony, there's nothing you did to make me feel this way. You never did anything wrong, or inappropriate, or anything like that. You were just there for me. I'm not used to that. It's not your fault that you're a good guy."

"No." Tony said, falling back onto the nearest chair. "I'm not a good guy, Peter. People die when they're around me. They get hurt. Have you seen Rhodey lately? I brought him into this and now he can't walk. I can't let that happen to you."

"So," Peter said, getting a little closer, "what I'm hearing is that you like me, you just don't want me to get hurt?"

"No, that isn't what I said. What I'm saying is that you aren't experienced enough for this. Nobody is. I want you in my life, Peter. I do like you, just in the way you want me to."

"Well, I think that's bullshit, if I'm being honest." Peter said, suddenly confident as a walked towards Tony, who was still sitting in the chair. 

"Peter."

"No, Tony. It is bullshit. I was trying to be nice earlier when I said you didn't do anything. You did. You're always looking at me. Always. And you're always so close. You never give yourself room to breathe around me, and you like it. You like being near me. And at first I thought it was because I was new. I thought I was like a new toy. But Tony, I have been here for over a year and if anything you've only given me less space. You keep getting closer to me, and I'm tired of ignoring it."

And that's when it dawned on Tony. Peter was right. That's why he liked it when Peter got shy around him, he thought it was cute. And it's why when they were in the screen room and the awkward boner happened, Tony has trouble going to bed that night, he had trouble ever forgetting about it. That's why Tony had been both dreading and anticipating this conversation all day. He longed to see Peter, even though he knew this conversation was going to go nowhere. 

He knows it's wrong. So, so wrong, and that's why he had to deny it. 

"Peter, that's just how I am, with everybody. You know that. I'm sorry I gave you the idea that I felt that way about you, but I don't."

Peter looked unconvinced, as he should have. Tony was lying through his teeth. 

"You know," Peter started, "I took a forensic science class last year. In this one lab they showed us a trick to see if people were lying. It's like a lie detector test, but it was stupid because normal people can't do it without a machine. But I'm not most people. My senses are elevated. Every time somebody was lying, I could tell. Their heart beats would always speed up. Do you know how I could feel it? We had to put our palm on their chest to feel their hear. Like this." Peter said, getting closer, putting his right hand on Tony's chest, right above where the reactor used to be. 

"Tell me you don't love me, Tony. If you're telling the truth, I'll know. I'll feel it."

"Peter," Tony interrupted, "you're being ridiculous." 

"See, you believe that. And you're right. I am kind of being ridiculous. But just tell me you don't love me, and I'll know. I'll stop."

"Peter." Tony begged. "Please. Stop."

"Why? Tony, just tell me, and I'll drop this. I'll never mention a word of this to you or anyone else. Nobody will ever know. All you have to do is tell me you don't care about me."

"I can't do that." Tony said. And that was it. He had given in. Denying it would be pointless, and he really just wanted to get Peter away from him before he did something that he'd regret. 

"And why can't you do that, Tony?" Peter asked, victory dancing in his eyes.

"Because Peter, Tony said, standing up, removing Peter's hand from his chest, "you clearly already know why."

And apparently that was all Peter needed to hear. He rushed up to Tony and grabbed him by both sides of the face, so quickly and with all of his strength, that he pushed Tony to the wall. He looked at him for half a second and then reconnected their lips. He had been wanting to hear those words for months, and finally, it had happened. Peter continued to kiss Tony until he needed to breathe again, and Tony took that as his chance to get away. 

He moved as far away from Peter as possible and looked at him to say a single word. "No."

"What?" Peter asked, his voice breaking. "I don't understand." 

"Peter, nothing changed."

"Everything's changed. Tony. What are you talking about?"

"Peter, you are sixteen."

"I turn seventeen in a month." Peter said, extremely indignantly

"Jesus Christ, Peter." Tony said, putting his face in his hands, "This is what I mean."

"Tony, you said it yourself, you love me." Peter said, crossing his arms, a look of confusion on his face. And god, he looked so young, so vulnerable.

"You're right. I did. And that's exactly why this isn't going to happen." 

"Tony, that doesn't make any sense."

"I love you enough to not ruin you, Peter. That's worth a lot. It makes a lot of sense. I need you to go home." Tony said, his eyes going hard, not making eye contact with the younger boy as he said it.   


"Are you kidding me?" Peter yelled. "I am so not listening to you."

"Go home. Now." 

Peter laughed. "No. If you think I'm going home after you've finally admitted to me what I've known, you're not the genius that I thought you were. So, no. I'm sitting right here. And if you want me to leave you'll have to get security to force me out."

"You're acting like a child."

"No, Tony, you are. You need to stop hiding your emotions. Not just about me, about Steve, and Bruce, Pepper. About how they left. That hurt you. You're always hurting, Tony. I just want to help."

And Tony really could kiss the kid right then, throw away all his inhibitions, just go for it. But he didn't he had to be the adult. "Listen, Peter. I'm not going to kick you out. You can stay as long as you think you need to. But I'm not something that you can fix."

"I don't want to fix you. I just want you to be happy."

"Okay, fine. You know what, I'm going to go upstairs to my room. I need a shower, and I need time to think. Stay, if you really want. Or go home. That's the safer option, and I really wish that you'd take it, but I know that you won't. So, there's guest rooms everywhere. You can choose one. Stay as long as you need, until you figure out that I don't need saving. Not from you, or Steve, or anyone else."

"Tony, I-"

"No. I'll be upstairs. I'll see you for dinner."

  


  



	5. Tsunami

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the lovely comments!

As soon as Tony found himself in his bedroom, he closed the door and slid onto the floor. He felt his hands shaking and he knew that he would be having a full blown anxiety attack within minutes. His body was physically rejecting his mind, rejecting the fact that he liked Peter, and he knew that he deserved it. Tony curled up against the door and let it all go. He began breathing rapidly, as though he had just run a marathon, and suddenly his vision went blurry, causing him to go into even more of a panic. 

He felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest and leap into the streets of New York City. He could hear the pounding and tried focusing on it until it finally slowed down. The worst of it was over, and he felt just as bad as he did before. He felt dirty, like no matter how many showers and took and how many times he brushed his teeth, he wouldn't be able to not feel Peter there any more. He would never be able to not know what it was like to kiss him, to kiss a child. 

He was going to be sick. Tony ran to the bathroom and sat on the floor, head over the toilet seat, hoping he wouldn't make another mess that he'd have to clean up himself. He felt his stomach convulse and he put his head into the seat, letting go of the sushi he had eaten for lunch. He had messed everything up, he thought. 

"Why'd you have to be so stupid?" He said to himself, definitely not expecting a response. 

"You're not stupid." Peter said, announcing himself as he walked into the bathroom that was off of Tony's bedroom. 

"How are you up here? You don't even have access to this floor." Tony asked, hiding his hands behind his back so that Peter wouldn't see how harshly they were shaking. 

"I hacked the elevator. It wasn't hard. You should probably up your security, you know, considering." 

"Considering there's a kid that I, for some reason, allowed into my life and he doesn't know how to not mind his own business?"

"Well, there's that. But I was going to say considering you have more enemies than you can count, and now that there's just me and you around, you should probably attempt to care about your own safety." Peter said, looking only mildly hurt by Tony's snarky comment. 

"Peter, I told you to leave me alone for a few minutes. I just need time to think by myself."

"I would have", Peter started, "but I could hear you hyperventilating from three floors down. I wanted to make sure that you were still alive and didn't pass out or something. You're an old man, you could have a heart attack any second."

Tony groaned and leaned his head against the toilet, not worrying about the seven kinds of bacteria he probably just got in his hair. "Oh my God, Peter. How old do you think I am?"

"It was a joke. I know you're not that old."

"I'm too old." Tony said, a bitter smile on his face, looking at Peter as the kid sat down next to him on his bathroom floor.

"Of course you're not. You're perfectly healthy. You don't even have grey hair." Peter laughed, trying to joke. 

"You know what I mean." Tony said. He wasn't smiling any more. "I'm too old for you."

"Tony, age is just a number. You can't quantify love."

"I think that argument would be more valid if you were, like, thirty. Don't get me wrong, I could handle that. But this? This would be illegal." Tony said, unable to meet Peter's face. He knew that if he looked into his eyes, he would stop doing the right thing. He would stop being the adult he was supposed to be and he'd let Peter do everything he wanted. Tony kept his eyes down. 

"Can I ask you a question. Just one, without you lying or obfuscating?" Peter asked. Tony could see him out of the corner of his eye. Peter was looking right at him.

"That depends on the question." 

"No. Any question. Right now. Just this one time, tell me the complete truth. Please?"

"Okay." Tony said, and that's the moment he gave in. He would give Peter anything he wanted. How could he not?

"Okay?"  Peter said, repeating him. 

"Yeah."

"If I kissed you right now, would you be mad?"

Tony let out a sigh. This kid was going to get him arrested. "Peter..." His tone was a warning.

"You said that you'd answer me." 

"I know I did."

"So answer." Peter said in frustration. "Just tell me if you're mad at me. If you would be mad at me. Because I really want to kiss you but I also really want you to not be mad about it. So I'd like to know."

"No. I wouldn't be mad." Of course he wouldn't be mad at Peter. Himself, though? He would hate himself. 

"So it's okay if I kiss you?" Peter asked, sounding hopeful. Too hopeful.

"Peter, there is absolutely nothing about you kissing me that is okay."

"That's confusing." Peter said, carefully leaning his head onto Tony's shoulder. "So you _would_  be mad?"

"I wouldn't be mad at you. I'd be mad at myself for letting you. And I'd be mad that it wasn't okay."

Tony bent his laid his head on top of Peter's. It wasn't the most comfortable position he had ever been in, but there was something about the scene that gave him comfort. He was a grown man, sitting on his bathroom floor. He was a mess, and for some reason Peter, someone who shouldn't give a damn about him, was there with him. 

They sat in silence for an immeasurable amount of time and Tony found himself dozing off when he felt Peter move beneath him. He picked his head up and looked down at the younger man, not really knowing what to expect. 

"Do you want to go to bed?" Peter asked, completely innocent to how bad what he had just said had sounded.

"No offense, but a while ago I said it wasn't appropriate for you to kiss me. Did you hit your head? That was kind of a leap."

Peter blushed. Under the florescent bathroom light he looked prettier than any woman Tony had ever seen. He looked like he was made in God's image, like he himself could be a god. 

"You know that's not what I meant."

"I know. But you should have seen your face. Hilarious."

"Alright," Peter said, getting up, "You're an asshole." He held his hand out for Tony to take to get up off of the bathroom floor.

Tony took his hand and was surprised at how easily Peter picked him up with one arm. He shouldn't have been, given that his one extracurricular was swinging from building to building on webs, but still. It was kind of attractive. Tony couldn't help but agree with him as he let Peter curl up next to him in his bed. He really was an asshole.

 

 


	6. Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for being supportive of this fic. It's appreciated more than you know! I really enjoy responding to all of your comments so keep them coming!

When Tony woke up his room was dark and uncharacteristically warm. The curtains hadn't been drawn over the windows and the lights emanating from the buildings and cars outside his window indicated that it was night. He closed his eyes and began drifting back to sleep when he felt the mattress behind him shift. Suddenly, he froze. His heart began racing and he felt an anxiety attack coming on again. He cursed inwardly. This would be the second one in just as many days, thanks to Peter.

Peter. Tony remembered, his anxiety temporarily leaving once he realized there wasn't an intruder in his bed. But once he realized that it was Peter and Peter was in his bed, under his covers, sleeping. In his bed. Tony started panicking again. In a hurry he pulled down the covers over his body and, to his relief, he was still wearing his jeans. His shirt had somehow gotten off in his sleep, but that was probably just because it had been warm. 

Tony remembered the events that had happened a few hours ago and calmed himself completely. He hadn't done anything illegal. Stupid? Hell yes. But not illegal. Unfortunately, in his rush to make sure he was wearing clothes, he had disturbed Peter. When the younger man's body began turning to face Tony, he laid his head all the way back down and closed his eyes, hopefully fast enough to convince Peter that he was still asleep.

Apparently, it worked. Though Peter was now facing Tony, he made no indication that he was going to speak. It stayed quiet and neither of them moved for what could have been hours. Suddenly, Tony felt a hand run through his hair. It took all of his strength to not flinch from the unexpected touch. 

He stayed completely still, trying to keep his breath even as Peter played with his hair. It was completely innocent, Tony thought. There wasn't anything inherently sexual about the younger man running his fingers through his hair. 

Peter's hand suddenly left Tony's head and he almost felt disappointed; he wanted more. He didn't want him to stop. A minute later he felt an arm sneak under his own and wrap around his waist. Tony tried, really tried to keep his heart beat in check. He really tried to keep his breathing steady, but there were only so many involuntary movements you could control at once. 

Nobody had been this close to Tony since Pepper left over a year ago. He had forgotten what it was like to feel loved, to be valued. He wasn't being used, or exploited, or hurt. He was just being cared for. He decided it felt good, after all these months, to finally feel like someone cared about him again. 

Tony felt Peter shift his body so that they would be even closer to each other. Peter slid a hand under Tony's body and gently picked up the older man, so that they were as close as possible. And Tony wasn't going to lie to himself, he found it kind of hot. Knowing that Peter was strong enough to take advantage of him, completely exploit him, but he didn't. He cared about how Tony felt, and how Tony had the right to say no, and suddenly he didn't feel like the adult anymore. 

He was the person who could be physically manipulated, not Peter. He was the person who was being persuaded, not Peter. Maybe it was possible that Peter was right, that they could do this thing, whatever it was. Not that it would ever be normal. They could probably never be publicly together, but maybe Peter would be okay with that. Tony couldn't care less about how he would look if he never dated another person in the public eye. But Peter was young, eventually his friends would ask questions. Eventually he'd get asked out by someone younger than Tony, someone better than him. 

"You're cute when you think." Peter said out loud. Tony wasn't sure if Peter just thought he was thinking in his sleep or if he knew he was awake, so he held his facial expression until Peter spoke again. 

"I know you're awake, Tony." He laughed. Tony couldn't help but smile a little.

"No, I'm not." He said, trying hard to keep his eyes closed. He really wanted to see Peter. 

"Whatever you say, old man. You're totally freaking out right now, even if you don't want to admit it."

"M'not freaking out," Tony lied, mumbling into his pillow. "I'm trying to fall back to sleep, but this kid keeps interrupting by moving my body around."

Tony wasn't sure if it was possible to feel a person blush, but even with his eyes closed, he could feel Peter's body get degrees warmer from being called out. 

"Sorry. I'll move away if you want." Peter said, lifting his arm off from around Tony's waist. 

"No, this is nice." Tony said, grabbing Peter's arm and putting it back in place, then putting his own arm around Peter's waist and finally opening his eyes.

"Yeah?" Peter asked, meeting Tony's look.

"Yeah." He said, a small smile spreading across his face. This is the happiest he had been in a long time. 

"Perfect." Peter concluded, relaxing his body. Tony hadn't realized how stiff Peter had been the entire time, and it dawned on him that Peter had been awake before even he had been. 

"How long have you been awake?" Tony asked, genuinely curious. 

"Like, two hours. I think. I'm not really sure." He said, looking down at the small amount of space between their chests. "You kicked me when you were trying to take your shirt off. I've been up since then. 

"Oh." Tony said in a whisper. "Um, if you want, I can put a shirt on. So that you can be comfortable." More so that Tony could be comfortable. Kill him, he felt a little self conscious around the kid who had a much better body than him.

"Do I look uncomfortable to you?" Peter asked, pulling Tony in as close as he possibly could, putting Tony's bare chest against his own shirt. Their noses touched.

"I guess not." Tony said, a shiver running down his back, going right to his groin. He moved his hips so that Peter wouldn't notice, but the movement itself must have seen a little suspect, because Peter instantly caught on. 

"Tony.." He trailed off, looking down to about the area where Tony's dick would be under the covers. 

"If you say what I think you're going to say, I swear to god I will put you in a guest room faster than you can say Spider Man." Tony said in a completely serious tone, not meeting Peter's eyes. 

"How do you know what I was going to say?" Peter asked, a pout on his face. He batted his eye lashed and pulled Tony closer than he physically thought possible. 

"Because, from what I recall, we're more similar than I'd like, and I know what I would have said when I was your age."

"And what  _would_ you have said?" Peter asked, his voice getting deeper every time he talked.

Instead of answering and continuing the cycle of questions, Tony took a leap. Well, less of a leap, more of a small step. But, it felt like a leap for him, and kissed Peter.

The younger man was shocked for an instant, and then melted into him. It was like they became one person. Tony felt Peter run his hand up his chest and his heart leaped. There was a line that he had already crossed when he let Peter sleep in his bed with him. There was another line crossed when he decided to let Peter get this close to him, let him literally cuddle with him. He crossed a third line when he decided to kiss Peter, and he figured three lines would be enough for one night. 

Tony threaded his hands through Peter's hair as they continued to kiss. For the first time in the last few weeks, he finally knew what he was doing again. He finally wasn't the one completely unprepared. Peter was unpracticed. His kisses were messy and eager, and something about that made them Tony's favorite kisses he'd ever received. He slowed Peter down and looked in his eyes to make sure that he was okay. To make sure that he wasn't hurt. 

As Peter went to move on top of him, Tony stopped him. "No."

"What?" Peter asked, obviously confused. 

"Listen, if we're gonna do this," Tony said, touching Peter's cheek, "we're going to move as slow as humanly possible."

Peter sighed. "Tony."

"I mean it. If I have to, I'll make a turtle radioactive myself and make it bite you. We need to go slow."

"I understand. I just don't like it."

"You don't have to." Tony answered back. "Hey, what time is it? Don't you have school in the morning?" 

"It's four in the morning." Peter said, looking at the digital clock across the room. "We were supposed to go on a field trip to the MOMA today. I was thinking that maybe I could not go." 

"I thought you went to a school for smart kids? Why are they taking you to an art museum?" 

"It's part of my architecture class. I've been there three times already. Even if you kick me out to try and influence me to go to school, I'm not going."

"You're just as stubborn as me." Tony chuckled to himself. 

"You love it." Peter said, their eyes connecting again. 

"If that's what you want to think, so be it." Tony said, voice thick with sarcasm. 

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed, sounding insulted. "You love it."

"Yeah, okay. I do." Tony gave up. "So, I think I'm going to go back to sleep for a few more hours. You're welcome to join me. If not, the lab is always open. Don't forget to finish working on that watch you're giving me for my birthday."

"Tony, what the hell? That was supposed to be a surprise." Peter complained. 

"Surprise! I know." Tony said. "Anyways, I can't wait until it's done. It looks like it's going to be cool. If you want any pointers feel free to ask me, I always have something helpful to say."

"I think what you mean is, you always have  _something_ to say."

"That's true too."

"How did you even figure out what it was?"

"Remember the other night in the lab when I gave you a hug and then you ambushed me and kissed me?"

"Yeah, uh, sorry." 

"I'm not. Anyways, the only reason I hugged you was so that I could see over your shoulder to look at what you were working on."

"You can be a real jerk you know." Peter said accusingly. 

"Oh definitely, but you love it." 

"Yeah, I love you." Peter said, pulling Tony's face towards him for another kiss. 


	7. Scouts Honor

The next time Tony had opened his eyes, light was flooding in from the windows and the space that Peter had occupied hours before was empty. Tony let out a happy sigh, maybe the kid had gone to school after all. He swung his legs over the edge of his bed and placed his feet on the hard wood floors. He walked into the bathroom and stripped his pants off, leaving him in his underwear. 

Opening the medicine cabinet, he grabbed his the red tooth brush and paste, washing his morning breath away. Once finished, he turned around and started the water in the shower. Even though Peter was gone, he still felt like he could walk in any minute, so he locked the door and took his underwear off, stepping into the warm water. 

Tony reached for the shampoo and poured it into his hand, the refreshing smell hit his nose and for the first time since he woke up, his brain turned autopilot off. It was like a switch was flipped and Tony couldn't stop it. Panic started setting in again. What had he done?

He had let Peter, the fifteen year old boy, sleep in his bed. He had let Peter get close to him, literally cuddle with him. He let Peter kiss him. He let himself kiss Peter back. He even let himself like it. He was disgusting. 

His breathing became labored and he put his hand against the wall to steady himself. The shampoo bottle dropped from his hand and Tony just watched it as it fell to the ground, nit even bothering to pick it up. He turned the water off and grabbed a towel. Still wet, but not clean. It didn't matter though, because Tony still had some pride and he would not let himself be found passed out naked in his shower. 

He ran his shaking hands through his hair and grazed the towel over his skin. Somehow, the friction of the towel against his skin hurt. It was gentle and more self care than he deserved from himself. He decided that once he got dressed he'd be going to search for that bottle of vodka he'd forgotten about so many weeks ago. Whoever said drowning in your sorrows wasn't productive clearly didn't have the same magnitude of problems that he had, Tony thought as he wrapped his towel around his waist and opened the bathroom door.  

When the door opened to his bedroom he was surprised to see Peter sitting on his bed, looking more comfortable than he had the right to be. Scratch that. That's what the Good Tony Stark would have said. Peter looked more attractive than he had the right to be.  "Hey." Peter said to Tony, a large smile playing on his lips. He must have only just gotten back. "Good shower?"

"Yeah." Tony lied, turning around, not making the effort to have the lie reach his eyes. He walked toward his closet and grabbed a white t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. 

"Hey, do you need a change of clothes? I don't need you smelling up my bed." Tony said, trying to change the dynamics in the room. It was too quiet right now.

"Yeah, actually. Do you have anything that will fit? The last pair of pants I borrowed.....aren't here." Peter said, a slight blush expanding from his cheeks down to his neck. 

"What did you do to my pants, Parker?" Tony asked, he couldn't help the genuine smile from playing on his lips. 

"Nothing! I mean...nothing. I'll get them back to you, don't worry." Peter said, suddenly very conscious of the pills of dust on his pants. 

"Sure." Tony said, reaching for a pair of pants in the back of his closet. "These should fit, I think I wore them in college."

"Really? Why do you still have them?" Peter asked, eyes widening. 

"I'm kidding. You really need to get onto my level of sarcasm. Natasha bought them for me. She said that I needed to start wearing tighter pants to, I quote, 'keep up with the kids'. If she could only see me now...."Tony stopped, realizing what he'd said. "Sorry."

"No, it's cool. You're older than me, I know that. I signed up for that." Peter said with a sincerity that Tony thinks he hasn't heard since, well, ever. 

"Yeah. About that," Tony started. Peter made a face and then Tony continued. "No, listen. I just, you know this is really, really not okay, right?" Tony asked, all the while handing Peter a shirt to go with the jeans. 

"I know that you think it's not okay. I'm perfectly okay." Peter said, as confident as he could be. 

"Maybe right now you are, but in a few years? When you're older? I don't want you to remember me as some creepy old guy that you trusted and then he took advantage of you. Trust me, I've lived that one. It's not fun."

"That would never happen. I love you." Peter said, standing up to meet Tony at the edge of the bed. "You aren't the one who's doing the persuading here, if you haven't noticed."

"That's true, but I clearly once gave you the idea that I could be persuaded, so, that might not go over so well in a court of law." Tony grimaced as he said it. 

"You haven't done anything wrong. I will never think that you did anything wrong. When it comes to this." Peter added, gesturing between their bodies. 

"Okay, if you're sure. The minute you want this all to stop, it's done." Tony said. It was more of a promise to himself than to Peter.

"That's never gonna happen." Peter said, stepping away from his warmth. "I'm going to go change into Nat's teen jeans, do you promise that you wont run away until I get out of the bathroom." Peter asked, only half joking. 

"Sure, Parker. Scouts honor. I'll be here."

The minute Peter closed the bathroom door, Tony fell onto his bed, trying to hold back a scream. He's so fucked. 

 


	8. What's that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is such a filler chapter, so sorry haha. I'll probably update tomorrow to give you an actual plot, but for now, enjoy.

By the time Peter had finished showering Tony had made his way up to the kitchen to grab some food. It was nearly noon and his stomach had been growling far too much for someone who had billions of dollars at his disposal. He grabbed three eggs out of the refrigerator and cracked them onto a pan, causing them to sizzle. 

Setting a glass on the counter, tony reached to the top cabinet, stretching his arms all the way up, for the Vodka that he so desperately needed. Sure, it may not be physically healthy, but he sure as hell felt emotionally better when he had a slight buzz. As he took his first sip, he heard steps come around the corner. Attempting to hide the bottle from Peter's sight, Tony slid it behind his back. 

"Done already?" he asked the younger boy. "Do you smell better?"

"Did I smell bad before?" Peter asked, sounding embarrassed. 

"Nope. I was just wondering if you could smell better." Tony said as he turned around to tend to the eggs on the stove that were probably already burnt. He could rebuild an engine in thirty minutes, but cooking? Hardly. 

"Well, I smell like your shampoo now, if that qualifies as better." Peter laughed. "Are you making eggs? Do you even know how to cook?" He asked Tony as he watched the man fumble with a spatula that looked brand new. 

"Of course I know how to cook!" Tony said indignantly. "Do you think I've made it nearly fifty years on this planet without knowing how to fry an egg?"

"Well," Peter chuckled, "considering the fact that you're currently scrambling your fried eggs and they're getting stuck to the pan, did you even put butter down? Anyways, you're eggs are burning and they're gonna taste like shit."

"Hey! Language!" Tony laughed as he nudged Peter away from the pan, bringing it to the trash to throw away. Nobody needed to get food poisoning today, he thought. 

"Yes, sir." Peter responded, making Tony freeze as he was bent over facing the trash. 

Something Peter had said, the Sir, had gone right to Tony's head, and he was unable to move. 

"Tony, are you good." Peter said, his innocent voice full of concern. 

"Yeah, just got a headache all of the sudden." He explained as he turning around to the sink, hiding the front of his body. The last thing he wanted Peter to know was that he had some kind of power kink, which he didn't. It was just Peter. The way he did everything, the way he said it.  _Oh God,_ he thought,  _I'm really going to hell._  

"Oh. Are you okay?" Peter asked, stepping right behind him. "Do you want me to get you some Tylenol? I can swing over to the store, be back in no time at all." He said, pressing his hand to Tony's back. 

"No, no. It'll be fine." Tony said, immediately regretting lying to the boy. Of course he was the kind of person to want to take care of Tony.

"You sure? I swear it would be okay. I would be happy to do it!" Peter promised with an all too eager smile.

 _He would probably do anything you asked._ Tony thought, immediately feeling disgusted with himself. He couldn't help it. He knew it was true. 

"No. How about we just go watch a movie? Anything you want?" Tony suggested, feeling like he had to repent for all of the things he'd been thinking about the boy, not that Peter would mind.

"Okay. Have you heard of the movie Zodiac? It's kind of old, I've been meaning to watch it."

"Did you just say that the movie Zodiac is old?" Tony laughed. "Jesus, it only came out ten years ago."

"Yeah, that's a long time ago."

"Okay, Peter. We can watch Zodiac." Tony sighed. This kid was going to be the death of him.

"Sweet." Peter smiled, walking toward the screen room, Tony trailing right behind. 

Tony sat down on the couch nearest to the flat screen and Peter watched him as he sat criss cross on the chair next to it. 

"You know, you don't have to," Tony started, "but considering you literally slept in my bed last night, you can sit next to me to watch a movie." He said with a smirk. 

"Oh." Peter laughed. "Well. I wasn't sure. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"Very considerate. Grab a blanket and come lay with me, Parker."

"Yes, sir." Peter said again as he got up, totally innocent, causing Tony to cough.

"Could you maybe not call me that?" Tony said, his voice hoarse. 

"What?" Peter said, confused as he reached into the cabinet for a blanket. 

"Try not to call me Sir, it's weird." 

"Oh, okay." Peter said, looking almost sad, "Sorry, I hadn't really thought about it."

"That's alright. Come here." Tony gestured to his side as Peter walked forward. 

Peter immediately got as close to Tony as possible without sitting on the man's lap, draping the blanket over the both of them. "You good?" He asked. 

"Great." Tony said. "Start the movie." 

.....

Twenty minutes into the movie Peter had stretched across the entirety of the couch. His lanky body taking up practically all the space while his eyes were focused intently on the screen, head resting on Tony's shoulder. 

"Hey, Tony?" Peter asked quietly, not wanting to startle the man. 

"Yes, Peter?" Tony said, looking down at the boy. 

"Have you seen this movie before?" 

"Yeah." Tony answered.

"Who's your favorite character?" 

"I don't have one. They're all kind of stupid. It's obvious who the murderer is the entire time and they don't figure it out until like twenty years later." Tony stated as Peter watched him talk contently. 

"Well, I like Paul." Peter said with a smile on his face. "I think he's cute."

"You think the old alcoholic is cute?" Tony laughed. "Peter Parker, dare I say, you have a type."

"Hey! You aren't an alcoholic. And besides, I said he was cute, which is more to do with the actor than the character." Peter tried to defend himself. 

"Oh." Tony teased. So you like cute older  _actors_. I can totally set up a meeting for you both to get to know each other. I think he's the same age as me, let's make it happen!"

"Shut up, would you?" Peter laughed as he stretched his neck to give Tony a kiss on the cheek. "You're the only one that I want."

"Cute. I'll never shut up."

"I only think he's cute because he looks kind of like you."

"You think Robert Downey Jr. looks like me?" Tony laughed. "That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said. And you've said a lot recently."

"What ever." Peter said. "You totally look like him." 

 

 

 


	9. You Fuck Me Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you guys liked the little RDJ bit I put in the last chapter. It was obviously stupid but I wanted to update and it seemed to make for a cute filler chapter! Anyways, I love the comments you guys give me and it motivates me to keep writing, so please keep it up!

Along the way, Tony and Peter must have dozed off, probably around midnight. Peter's body had moved in front of Tony's, who was laying on his side and gripping Peter's waist so that he didn't fall off of the couch. They probably would have stayed like that too, if Peter hadn't felt the strange sensation that somebody was watching him. 

The hairs on his arm stood at attention as he pretended to sleep, lifting his eyes slightly as he glanced around the room to see if anyone was there. Not seeing anyone in his limited sight, Peter unhooked Tony's arm from around his body and stood up. As he stretched his arms above his head he turned around, now standing face to face with the notorious Natasha Romanoff.

Peter immediately started panicking. This was it. They were caught. There was no way he could lie to the super spy without her seeing right through him. 

"Before you say anything," Peter whispered in a quiet voice, trying not to wake Tony up, "I know it's weird."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Nat whispered back, clearly angry. 

"I was....sleeping." Peter said, trying to defuse tension and make it seem more innocent. 

"Yeah. I think that's obvious." She said with a harsh look in her eye. "You know what I mean, Peter. What are you doing with Stark? He's spooning you on a couch that's barely big enough for a single person. That's..not normal."

"I'm quite aware that it isn't normal. That doesn't mean it's a problem." Peter defended. This conversation could turn dangerous really fast. 

"A lot of people might disagree with that." She said, a warning gleaming in her eye. 

"And you?"

"To be honest, it's not really any of my business." She said, glancing at Tony who was still fast asleep on the couch, now holding a pillow in the place of Peter's warm body. "But, I do think that you need to be careful, more careful than this."

"We're literally in his house, how much more careful can we get?" Peter asked, completely exasperated. 

"It's a house that at least thirty people can get into by just showing their face to the camera. Try talking to him about increasing security, it's not like the tech isn't already in place." 

"That-That's actually a good idea." Peter said, rubbing his neck. 

"I get those every now and then. Anyways, I really came by to pick up my lipstick Tony said he'd have ready for me. It's laced with this new drug that's supposed to knock you out for almost three hours if you use it right. If not, you might die. It's sweet. Do you know where it is? I'd hate to wake him up, he gets annoying when he doesn't get enough sleep."

"He never gets enough sleep." Peter laughed. 

"Exactly. The lipstick. You know where it is?"

"Uh, yeah." Peter laughed. "It's in the lab. I'll help you find it."

"No, it's fine. I'll get it myself. In the mean time, how about you get the old man over there into an actual bed. He might look comfortable right now, but in the morning all he'll be doing is complaining about the pain in his back. Trust me, I've witnessed it." Natasha said as she rolled her eyes.

"Noted. And um, thank you for being cool about everything. It means a lot."

"Oh, don't think that I approve, I just don't particularly care enough to tell anyone, and I've never met anyone who can talk Tony out of doing something that he wants to do, so what's the point?"

"Yeah, well. Still. Thanks." Peter said, a bit more unsure of whether or not the woman would tell anyone. 

"Welcome. See you later, kid." She said, walking out of the room, presumably towards the lab to get her killer lipstick. 

Peter released a breath he hadn't known he was holding and walked over to the couch that Tony was still sleeping on. He grabbed the older man's shoulder and shook slightly. 

"Tony. Tony, get up. If you're going to sleep for the rest of the day, at least get into your bed." Peter shook his shoulder again and still got no response. 

"Tony!" He said, slightly louder, startling the sleeping man from his sleep. 

Unfortunately, in all the commotion, Tony's fight of flight system had taken over and he had grabbed Peter's arm and had managed to pin him onto the ground in an extremely uncomfortable position. 

"Tony, It's just me." Peter said, getting one hand free and using it to guide Tony's face in his direction so that he'd see that he didn't want to hurt him. 

It took only seconds for Tony to realize that he had made a mistake, he jumped off of Peter and back onto the couch, where he curled into himself while sitting up. 

"I'm so sorry, Peter." He said with more sincerity in his voice than Peter had ever heard before. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't hurt me." Peter said from the floor. "I'm fine. I'm like 500 times stronger than you. I just didn't want to hurt you, so I let you do whatever you wanted."

"Really?" Tony asked, sounding unconvinced. 

"Yeah. See, Tony?" Peter said, standing up and doing a hand stand, complete with perfect form and all. 

"I see. I'm still sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It was just a reflex." Tony said quietly, looking at his hands.

"I know." Peter nodded, sitting next to him. "See, this is just another reason why we're good together. You can attack me all you want and I won't get hurt." Peter laughed, adding, "as long as you're not wearing the suit."

"Cute. But I don't want to attack you."

"And here I was, thinking that you were just keeping me around as an extra-strength human punching bag. My mistake." Peter said, looking Tony right in the eyes. 

"When did you become such an asshole?" Tony smirked, finding it a little funny and a lot more attractive than appropriate for the conversation. 

"Probably around the time that I started working with you. You tend to rub off on me." Peter said, trying to go in for a kiss, completely missing as Tony turned his head, getting a face full of scruff. 

"Gotta be quicker than that, Parker. I'm not that easy." He laughed, smiling like he hadn't in a long time. 

"You want me to be quicker? Fine." Peter said as he lunged forward and put Tony on his back, against the couch. Peter quickly kissed him and pulled away, keeping Tony pinned down.

"Was that fast enough?" Peter asked, putting on an innocent face.

"Not even close. I let you do that." Tony answered back, challenging the younger boy. 

 

 

 


	10. You Kill Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm sorry that I haven't updated recently! I got a new job so I've been really focused on that for the last week. I hope you guys like the chapter!

"You LET me?" Peter laughed playfully, unpinning him and letting him up. "You know that I can easily lift like, fifty of you at once, right?"

"Yeah, but I have more experience in fighting than you, so I knew that you were going to make that move before you did it." Tony rebutted, smiling wider than he had in a while. 

"To be fair, you've trained with Steve Rogers, the only practice I've had is in my gym class when we were doing boxing for a week."

Tony snickered, leaning into Peter's side as they sat on the couch, their bodies plastered together. He hadn't been this happy in a while. Everything in his life has always been dull. Not in a boring way, but nothing had ever made him really _feel_ as present as Peter's mere presence did. He wondered if he'd ever actually been in love before. Sure, he loved Pepper, there's no doubt about that. Pepper was an amazing person and he still loves her to this day. But was he ever  _in_ love with her? He wasn't sure. It certainly never felt like this. 

And that, Tony thought, is a damn shame. Feeling like this is so good. Feeling so happy that it makes you dizzy and feeling like you have someone that will stay with you forever is the only feeling that really matters. But, it was also a shame for another reason. Peter was so young, too young. And Tony was trying to not let that come up in conversation too much. He didn't want Peter to feel like he didn't care about him. It was just hard. What they were doing was justifiably wrong on so many levels.

"Tony? Hey! Are you listening?" Peter asked, waving his hands in front of Tony to disrupt his train of thought.

"Yeah?" Tony said, focusing himself back on the present.

"Did you hear me?" Peter laughed.

"No, sorry." He laughed, trying to push his thoughts out of his head. He's zoned out more in the last few weeks than he has through most of his life. It was kind of unsettling. "What's up?"

"I only said that my birthday is in two days." Peter said with pride. 

"Really?" Tony perked up with interest. Somehow seventeen was so much better than sixteen. 

"Yeah. The big one seven. Kidding. It's a stupid age. You can't drink, buy cigarettes, scratch tickets, anything. What's the point of turning seventeen?" Peter joked. 

"Hey, when I turned seventeen I made a fake ID so that I could get into this club in Boston. It totally worked. I guess that's the benefit of MIT technology."

Peter's eyes lit up, undoubtedly getting at least one bad idea in his head. 

"I'm NOT getting you a fake ID for your birthday, by the way." Tony said, reminding him yet again of how young Peter was. "If you really want to drink with your friends invite them here and I'll supply the alcohol. I don't want any of you little ones getting drunk in a sketchy bar in Queens."

"Hey, I'm not you. I wasn't going to ask for a fake ID for my birthday. I don't even drink. Besides, I already have one." Peter said. 

"You have a fake ID but you don't drink?" Tony questioned, obviously confused. 

"Yeah. Well, I didn't really want it." Peter explained. "Ned wanted to go to a party earlier this year and so he got both of us ID's. I went. I drank. I got sick. Never again." He wrinkled his nose, remembering what must have been an unpleasant experience. 

"You probably didn't drink anything good." Tony said as Peter got up off of the couch to stretch. 

"Yeah, I don't know what it was, all I know is that it was good at first. Not so great a few hours later." Peter sighed. "Anyways, I have no interest in getting a fake ID from you for my birthday."

"Clearly." Tony nodded his head. "So, what do you want?"

"From you? Nothing. You've given me a lot already." Peter said, sitting back down. 

"Sure. But I'd like to give you more. Do you have your license? What color car would you hypothetically want?" Stark asked, reaching for his phone. 

"I don't want a car, Tony." 

"Okay, well there has to be something. Even something small?"

"Well, there is something I'm kind of interested in." Peter said, suddenly a bit more serious.

"Then tell me. Anything you want is yours."

"You." Peter said, blushing and looking down to his lap.

"Pardon." Tony asked, having received an answer he was not expecting. Not yet. 

"I think you know." Peter said looking towards Tony, but not meeting his eyes. 

"I'm not sure you completely understand what you're saying." Tony said. He had known that this conversation would happen eventually, but he certainly wasn't anticipating it. In fact, he could feel his anxiety overtaking him a bit, his chest restricting. 

"I know what I'm saying. I'm not stupid." Peter said in a sudden defense of himself. 

"God, I know you're not stupid, Peter. You're brilliant. I just don't know if you understand exactly what line that would cross. What has happened between us so far is, unusual, but not necessarily illegal. This would be something you couldn't take back. 

"And why would I want to?" Peter asked, now visibly upset.

"I...don't know. Listen, all that matters here is you, and if you got hurt from any of this, I don't know how I could live with myself." Tony said, feeling relieved now that his position was out there.

"And that's why I know it will be okay. You're a good man Tony, and I trust you with everything. I mean that."

"I know you mean that now, but this is different. You don't understand it right now, but believe me, it is."

"I believe that. It doesn't change anything. You asked what I want for my birthday, I'm just letting you know." Peter said, ending the conversation

"Okay." Tony said. 

"You'll do it?" Peter asked, sounding surprised. 

"Just...let me think on it, okay? I feel like that isn't too much to ask. In fact, I think that you should think about it too. To make sure it's really what you want."

"I've been thinking about it for a long time, Tony. Longer than I'd normally admit. You think, I'll be ready when you decide." Peter said, resting his head back onto Tony's shoulder. He grabbed his hand and held it in his own, feeling hopeful. 

 


	11. We're Gonna Work This Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo! I hope you've all been enjoying this little story! Let me know how you like it in the comments and what you'd like to see happen next! Thanks for reading!

Two days later Tony had still not decided if he would give Peter what he really wanted for his birthday. His better judgement had been holding him back but still, at midnight, Tony shot Peter a text. 

_happy birthday!_

Not expecting an answer, he put his phone down on his bedside table and made his way into the bathroom. Pulling out his tooth paste from the medicine cabinet, he put a strip of it on his tooth brush and began scrubbing away the taste of the alcohol he had been drinking all day. 

Through the four meetings Tony had gone through he had been slipping flasks of what he thinks is cheap whiskey, but to be honest it was hard to tell when all he could focus on was the sixteen year old boy a few miles away in a high school physics class. He was so fucked. He felt sick. 

He couldn't understand how something that felt so right when they were together could feel so wrong when they were apart. Tony spit into the sink and looked into the mirror and saw a stranger looking back. 

His hair was graying. Not a lot, of course, but he could see a bit of silver peppering around his head. His eyes were surrounded by wrinkles, a result of his tendency to turn into an alcoholic every time something was even a little hard. Tony was wondering how Peter could possibly be interested in him when he was so damaged while his phone rang in the background. 

Putting his toothbrush down, he made his was to his phone and smiled a little. Peter's face brightened up his phone as he requested to Face Time Tony. Swiping answer, Tony prepared himself to be assaulted by loud yelling and excitement with Peter's friends around. He was probably just trying to convince them that he and Tony were close enough that he would pick up the phone at midnight for him. 

Instead, Tony was greeted with Peter's face up close as he was obviously lying down in bed. Definitely alone. 

"Thanks for the happy birthday message, Mr. Stark!" He greeted with a smile

"Didn't I tell you not to call me M-"

"Call you at night, yeah I know! But I figured you wouldn't mind. Considering you texted me, I mean. Anyways, say hi to Ned!" Peter said as he turned the camera around and showed Ned on the floor in Peter's room, scrolling on his phone. 

And then it made sense why Peter was acting so  _friendly._   Not that Tony minded his friendly tone, it was just much different than the way they had been speaking for the last few weeks. 

"Hey, Ned." Tony said, only a little less enthusiastic. Him and Peter clearly weren't going to have any heart to hearts tonight.

"Hey, Mr. Stark! Wow! I didn't think you would actually answer! This is actually awesome."

"I'm sure! Are you taking care of Peter over there? He can be a danger to himself sometimes." Tony asked, trying to score points with Peter's best friend, which was really stupid in hindsight. Tony was nearing fifty years old and trying to impress a fifteen year old. 

"I am not!" Peter shouted from behind the phone, turning the camera back around to face Tony again. "You of all people should know that i'm perfectly capable of not dying. And besides, I'm seventeen now! Practically an adult!" Peter said, his words a little slurred.

Tony's eyes shot up. "Peter, have you been drinking?"

"Nah. Weeeelll. Maybe. Just a little. Ned and I kind of used that fake ID I was telling you about briefly."

Ned shouted in the back. "Bro, you told him? I thought we agreed to never tell adults about that!"

"Tony is...a cool adult." Peter said, meeting Tony's eyes as he said it, slightly biting his lip. 

"Hey Peter," Tony started, "call me tomorrow if you want to, uh, work on that project." He said, watching Peter's eyes twinkle when he understood exactly what Tony was implying. 

"Hey," Ned said in the background, "can I come too? Just this time. I really just want to go into Tony Stark's lab to be honest."

"Uh, maybe some other time. This project is....top secret." Peter said with a blush and a "shhhhhh" into the phone.

"You're working on a top secret project with STARK?" Ned said in a raised voice. 

"Um, yeah." Peter deadpanned, just staring into the phone, soaking in exactly what Tony looked like. Tony wouldn't admit it to himself, but I was really enjoying it." 

Coughing, he started talking again. "Yeah. So, call or text me tomorrow and I'll pick you up or something okay? Happy Birthday, Peter."

"I'll call you first thing in the morning." Peter said in affirmation. 

"Yeah," Tony snorted, "assuming you won't be dying from a killer hang over."

"Heeeey" 

"Happy Seventeenth Birthday, kid." Tony said, and then pressed End Call. _Well_ , he thought,  _I guess the decision has been made._


End file.
